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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Tip #16: Add flax-seeds to your diet

Today, another short post, as the semester is winding down and I have a lot of accumulated work to do. But, I set out to do a post a week, and I am finding that it is very rewarding to be able to fulfill one's own goals (and hopefully I'll write about that another day).

One thing my nutritionists recommends and I feel it's easy to do with many benefits is to have a couple of tablespoons of ground flax seeds every day. Flax seeds contain Omega 3s, lots of fiber, and many minerals and vitamins. They also have something called lignans, which help the body metabolize estrogen, with implications for the prevention of breast cancer in particular. They help lower your inflammation, blood pressure, cholesterol and can offer some protection against heart disease and diabetes. In my own life, I find that it helps me be regular, which is much appreciated. I like to mix my 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds with a bit of my morning smoothy, which creates a mushy paste that I actually love (but maybe my taste is just becoming as weird as me. Who knows).

Here you have another video from Dr. Greger's (5 minutes), and he explains it much better than I could:

There is some controversy with flax seeds, as with most things,and here's a link about it from the blog Mark's Daily Apple (of the Paleo diet, whom I like in general, although I don't agree with him on some things). But he also mentions, in another post, that he considers flax seeds to be one of the best foods for your brain (because of the Omega 3s).

As with most food controversies, I like to read as many sources as I can, but ultimately I go by what my nutritionist recommends. I feel this is one of the things that anyone can also benefit from and that's why I decided to include it here.

2 comments:

Pilar! I love how you distill information for us - thank you sooo much.What about flaxseed oil, as compared to the whole (and crushed) seeds? Isabel and I used to do a drink that included the oil (which I have always intended to revisit, and you help nudge me toward).I also LOVE your comment about the satisfaction of fulfilling one's own goals. Rockin' inspiration. Thanks again, y muchos besos.

Hi there! Love your comments! You ask a great question. From what I've read, the oil is not as good as the seeds because it does not contain the fiber and also, it can get rancid much faster. In addition, most of the research about the health benefits have been done using the seeds and not the oil. I personally never use it.